1 LESSONS from an ARAB by John Kiser Introduction I Owe My Interest

LESSONS FROM AN ARAB ( Abdelkader’s Legacy of Empathy and Obedience, 1808-1883) by John Kiser Introduction I owe my interest in Emir Abdelkader to a community of French Trappist monks living in the Atlas Mountains, south of Algiers. The story of their kidnapping in 1996 and eventual death became the subject of a book, The Monks of Tibhirine : Faith, Love and Terror in Algeria. Seven years later, an award- winning French film, Of Men and Gods, was produced based in large measure on the book. Brought to the more God-fearing United States by Sony Classics, it became Of Gods and Men. By a coincidence of history, their monastery of Notre Dame of the Atlas was located below a cliff face called Abdelkader Rock. Curious about the name, I learned from the monks that Abdelkader had once directed a battle against the French from the top of the cliff and is considered by Algerians to be their version of George Washington. Abdelkader was the first Arab leader to unify tribes, however briefly, into a proto-Arab state to resist a French occupation that began with the sack of Algiers in 1830. As it turned out, the emir’s struggle was but the first phase of a “long war” for independence and dignity that lasted until 1962. As I read more about him, I also noted his resemblance to other Americans--- Robert E. Lee and John Winthrop. Like Lee, he was deeply religious, gracious, unwilling to prolong senseless suffering and in defeat, promoted reconciliation. Like Winthrop, Abdelkader believed that good governance required submission to Divine Law: God’s wisdom as revealed through the prophets in the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospels and the Koran— interpreted through the actions and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, known as the Sunna. A devout practitioner of his faith, Abdelkader learned from his mother that ritual purification is but half of faith, and a reminder of the harder half ---to purify one’s 1 inner self of unruly passions and egotistical desires. From his scholarly father, Muhi al Din, he learned the complexities of interpreting God’s word, the importance of context, the different levels of understanding, and different forms of behavior that are also righteous. The most brilliant of his father’s four sons, Abdelkader acquired a sense of mission to renew an Islamic culture degraded by years of greed and misrule by the provincial Ottoman beys. His tools were deep knowledge and curiosity, keen and open intellect, chivalrous behavior, genuine piety, and moral courage. Commander of the Faithful: Life and Times of Emir Abdelkader ( story of true jihad) became a spiritual sequel to the monks. ***** One day while visiting the Catholic cultural center in Algiers, a Benedictine sister sought me out. She had learned of my interest in writing a book about the emir and excitedly brought me a copy of an excerpt from the emir’s spiritual writings which she especially appreciated, and thought I should have. His words resonated. … If you think God is what the different communities believe---the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews , Zoroastrians, polytheists and others—he is that, but also more...None of His creatures worships Him in his entirety. No one is an infidel in all the ways relating to God. No one knows all God’s facets. Each of His creatures worships and knows Him in a certain way and is ignorant of Him in others. Error does not exist in this world except in a relative manner. No wonder this Catholic sister admired him. Abdelkader had enunciated the spirit of Vatican II one hundred years before Pope John the XXIII wrestled revolutionary declarations from the leaders of the Church: The kingdom of God is bigger than the Church; salvation is ultimately a mystery. No religion owned God. The finite can’t grasp the infinite. Abdelkader’s way of thinking inspired me. It was rational, humble, inclusive. I could see that the superior of the monks, Christian de Chergé, and Abdelkader shared similar big tent views of their faiths, followed similar rituals and even dressed alike. Like the writings of Christian, the emir’s words also resonated. I wanted to learn more about this Arab warrior- scholar- saint who, throughout much of the 19th century had been honored and admired from Missouri to Moscow to Mecca: First as a wily and resilient warrior- statesman opposing the French 2 occupiers and their native allies( 1832-1847); later as an unbending and stoic prisoner in France ( 1848-52), and finally in honorable exile (1852-83) where he reached the summit of his fame after rescuing thousands of Christians during a rampage in Damascus. The emir’s story is about many things, but mainly it’ s about struggle. He struggled against French invaders, struggled with betrayal, humiliation and depression in France, and struggled to live as a good Muslim throughout his tribulations by not allowing the destructive passions of despair, hatred or revenge to dominate his emotions. I thought I could learn something from his life, and if I could, perhaps others could too. The qualities that made him admired by both ordinary people and leaders of nations are in short supply today: Subtle, searching intellect, self-control, moral courage, excellent manners and spirit of reconciliation towards all. He never burnt his bridges. Rather than demonize, he would shame his enemies. “What is this Thing Called Love?” Two years ago, The Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan, asked me to write a White Paper. I was to explain who Abdelkader was, and to relate his life to the institute’s mission of fostering awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in governance, and the world. But what is love, really ? Crooner Cole Porter’s meaning of the love he found so perplexing was an emotion, a sentiment, a feeling. As unpredictable as a bird, it flies in and then flies out. Such love has nothing to do with Christian love, I was told years ago by a French priest who tutored a rather secular John Kiser in understanding scripture during a year of study on the Cote d’ Azur. Father Antoine Costa was the doyen of six parishes and noted for having one of the few churches in France that was full every Sunday. Why should I “love” my neighbor? I asked him. That seemed much too strong an emotion for any old neighbor, given the difficulty I often had of loving properly the people I am supposed to love—spouse, children, close friends. That’s when I realized I had been “Hollywoodized.” 3 “Love thy neighbor,” he explained, is not about a sentiment; rather about respecting the dignity of another person, good will, justice, patience, self control, empathy. Among these overlapping, worldly attributes of love, I rank empathy of the highest importance in the case of Abdelkader --- his ability and willingness to imagine himself in the shoes of others; treating others as he would have wanted to be treated. Love is Matthew 25—being compassionate toward the hungry, the poor, the sick and even the stranger. Or, according to a Hadith, “ No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” The Lord’s Prayer tells us we will be forgiven in the same measure as we forgive others. Goethe tells us that to understand is to forgive. Forgiveness is aided by humility, and by love, when love seeks understanding and asks, “What if I were in a similar situation?” I would propose, most importantly, that forgiveness is about self cleansing, healing wounds, moving on. Without forgiveness, we can poison ourselves with prolonged emotions of anger, hatred and revenge--- powerful toxins that may activate great exertion, but not likely to be righteous exertion. Despite the horrors of war, and betrayals by Arabs and French alike, the emir controlled these demons, giving him a weapon for which the French generals had no counter: his humanity. As a believer, the emir liked to say that all genuine religions share the same mandate: To love God and be compassionate toward His creatures -–including French prisoners. Justice, empathy, forgiveness and courage marked Abdelkader as a leader. These qualities reflected a character molded by learned, demanding, and caring parents as well as a tribal culture that expected from their leaders wisdom, generosity and patience --- traits reinforced by a well of religious teachings and morality that was thoroughly internalized under his parents’ guidance. Abdelkader And The Art Governance Abdelkader’s “governance” took two forms: creating a caliphate by federating independent-minded tribes under the Law, and governing his “community” of over one hundred family and loyal followers while in prison for five years. His ability to 4 command respect was ultimately rooted in a third form of governance---his “self- governance,” or self mastery, composed of a powerful intellect, a clear moral compass and an attitude of servantship. When asked in prison by Col. Eugene Daumas, his minder from the War Ministry, what advice he had for the French on how to govern the Arabs, the emir held up the Koran. It was his constitution. Unlike many of today’s professed theocrats, the emir’s knowledge of his “constitution” was both broad and deep, and guided by a spirit of humility and always subject to the higher wisdom of the ulema. Above all, he would have honored the Koranic teaching which warns : “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” (S 2:256) Abdelkader grew up in a Sufi and tribal world. From his Sufi tradition, the writings of Ibn Arabi that celebrated the spirit of universal love loomed large in his thinking.

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